community history

When you walk, drive or ride around Bend, you'll notice unique names of streets and places. These names tell a story of Bend's early history. Drake Park, for example, wasn't named after a duck. The beautiful park, peacefully hugging Mirror Pond was named after Alexander M. Drake, a frontier developer. In fact, Mirror Pond isn't a pond either. It's a gently flowing river springing from the Cascade Mountains, which is reflected in its glassy surface. You see, more than 100 years ago pioneers took refuge and relaxed here.

Once they spotted Pilot Butte on the horizon, incoming pioneers knew that they were approaching the twisting riverbanks of the Deschutes River, home to more than 300 early settlers. They lived in an area called Farewell Bend, which was the common saying when the pioneers sadly continued on with their westward journey. In November 1904 the residents voted to incorporate to a city. The town needed a name and what better name was there than its trademark. In January 1905, the citizens dropped the farewell part and nailed up the sign that said welcome to Bend, Oregon.

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Every January it seems like a wave of "New Year, New You" ads and articles hits our social feeds and inboxes. The idea is that we've crossed a threshold and can focus on self-improvement. We can really get serious about losing that weight, starting a yoga practice, learning a foreign language, writing that book, etc., etc., etc.

There’s no question, we are living in an environment of rising interest rates. But what does that actually mean? Many consumers start to worry about their buying power when they see the news reports of increasing rates.